TOKYO – Japan is considering announcing a 10 trillion yen ($68 billion) decade-long private investment target for India when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits later in the month, government sources said Thursday.
The new target — an update of a five-year 5 trillion yen investment goal rolled out in 2022 — is intended to further spur investment at a time when the two countries are working closely to promote a “free and open Indo-Pacific” in the face of an assertive China.
The Japanese government may mention the target in an outcome document to be issued following summit talks between Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and Modi, the sources said.
Modi plans to visit Japan for three days from Aug. 29, they said. It will be his first visit to Japan since May 2023, when he traveled to the Group of Seven summit in the western city of Hiroshima.
The Japanese government said in March 2022, at the time of a visit to India by then Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, that it would aim for 5 trillion yen of public and private investment and financing over five years.
The Japanese and Indian governments are also seeking to agree on a new framework to explore cooperation in economic security, such as for procuring stable supplies of critical goods, the sources said.
The framework would designate semiconductors, essential minerals, communications, clean energy, artificial intelligence and pharmaceutical products as key areas for discussion.
The two sides are additionally arranging to announce what they call an AI cooperation initiative for the emerging technology and related startups, they said.
“We hope promoting cooperation between Japanese companies (and their Indian counterparts) in fields where Indian firms have strengths would contribute to the growth of the Japanese economy,” one of the sources said.
During his stay, Modi may travel to Sendai, in Miyagi Prefecture in northeastern Japan, to view an experimental shinkansen bullet train car and visit a major Japanese manufacturer of chip-making equipment, according to the sources.
AloJapan.com